captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> up first, ousted from office, anne arundel county executive john leopold decides to resign before he is forced out. the resignation comes in the same week that he was found guilty of misconduct of office charges. >> richard reeve is live and annapolis with what comes next. >> a couple of things happening. leopold's the sentencing hearing is next month, but there is also an urgent search for his replacement. tonight, the relief about the resignation. we are told the atmosphere in the office was open " toxic." john leopold found guilty tuesday of two counts of

misconduct in office. he has now resigned from his job as county executive. >> i guess i am glad he is leopold, who was 69, is accused of using his security detail to compose information about political rivals. >> hopefully we get quickly pass this. >> there was more. some say his behavior was predatory it and cruel when he ordered his secretaries to drain his bag after he had surgery. a former county employee who has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit said there was an atmosphere of fear among women in his office. >> harassment and incredible abuse of power no one had any second he could fire you. >> the council has 30 days to find a replacement. the process will include interviews >> we have some closure to the situation.

>> we tried to speak to leopold at his pasadena home friday night. he was not there. still, many are relieved about the resignation. >> i think it's a shame anytime a government leader puts himself in that kind of position. >> in his letter resignation, leopold said it was a compelling and humbling experience for me to sit through two weeks of the trial. i acknowledge the serious errors in judgment i made and did not want these errors in judgment to further distract the county. there will be a sentencing hearing march 14. live and annapolis, richard reeve, abc 7 news. >> the resignation closes his long career in politics, spending portions of four decades in maryland. he was county executive a battle over six years. prior to that he was a member of the maryland house of delegates 18 years. he also served in the state house and senate, when he lived in hawaii in the 1970's.

>> we are on storm much as it appears the cold conditions there will be more snow moving in our direction. let's turn to abc 7 senior meteorologist bob ryan. >> and of the snow lovers are saying, is this the big one? it is not, but it is a cold pattern. not really big storms, but these little waves in the atmosphere are coming our way. the next will be moving across, and certainly dumping a fair amount of snow for the skiers in western virginia, with the one triple -- the one rippled i came through at 6:00 in the morning officially 0.2 inches. when the eastern shore, 2-3 inches of snow. that did not help with the early-morning commute. all of that disappeared, so for the upcoming weekend, the main story as the cold.

the wind chill in the single digits. a cold weekend coming up. any snow, and i think it is a 50/50 chance we will see more tomorrow, which will be conversational. super bowl sunday, cold, and still no big storm in sight. the total snow for washington, a little over an inch this season, in spite of the f salt. >> you mentioned in it, super bowl sunday. less than 48 hours away from kickoff in new orleans. people are enjoying the super bowl weekend in the big easy, and ravens fans are hoping to see read lewis ride into the sunset with the on barley -- with the lombardi trophy. brad bell has been in new orleans and he has all the excitement. >> lots of fans.

monday, they got to go into the superdome to see the teams up close. something called the nfl experience with the super bowl trophy, throw the football. this being new orleans people like to walk around the french quarter and show their team colors. the pre-game fanned volume, talking about the ravens. she is the super fan, and she has noticed something in the french quarter. >> it feels like a home game in new orleans. >> this person is not a celebrity fans, but she has also noticed it. >> we are having a great time. >> earlier this week, a report of 108% in orleans booked from the baltimore washington area than from san francisco. >> this is the city to have a

super bowl. what a great town. >> what a blessing. that is something bad is it epic. it will never happen again in history. >> the nice thing about new orleans for the super bowl, it is a relatively small town. if people are able to walk from the french quarter all the way to the superdome. something we have been hearing from a lot of people, even though it does not look that way, they say it would be nice if the super bowl was here every single year. >> stay with abc 7 news for complete super bowl coverage all weekend, up to and including super bowl night. for updates online, go to wjla.com. >> we go to waste wer news. the fire chief of the west lanham fire department is disputing the report that

injured four firefighters in the crash. the chief says that investigators are wrong. >> the fire chief says just look at the damage on the fire truck and you will know that his firefighters are not to blame for th>> were they making a u-turn? >> they were not. there were slowing down for the call. >> the fire chief spoke with abc 7 exclusively, adamant his firefighters were not to blame for the nasty wreck on the beltway wednesday morning. he said the four firefighters on engine 828 or on the inner loop when they arrived at the accident scene and dispatch told them they were not needed. he said the truck had slowed down and was about to continue forward on the inner loop to head home. >> the driver noticed a tractor- trailer bearing down on them. they were hit dead center in the fire truck, pushing us into the jersey wall. >> the driver pushed on the gas to speed up. >> i credit the driver of the

apparatus for saving lives. >> during a press conference, p.g. county police said it was too early to blame somebody for the record, but they also said this about the fire truck -- >> we believe they were attempting to make a u-turn and the plan was to use the emergency turnaround. >> in this picture, you can see the damage. for that, the fire chief said of the engine had been making a u- turn, there would be damage on the driver side. we reached out to p.g. county police to try to get a rebuttal. here is what they said -- the fire chief just once the dark cloud hovering over his department to move on. >> we have a long recovery to go, and i cannot wait for this erroneous story to go away so we can get back to serving our

community. >> one of the firefighter, whose arm was severed in this crash we are being told he is breathing on his own and he is talking with his family and friends. the hope is that he will make a full recovery. >> also tonight, it is hotter heartbreak for a neighborhood in frederick county dealing with the death of two young children killed in a house fire. flames engulfed the home last night. neighbors say the parents try to save their four young girls. an 8-year-old and 6-month-old sister got out alive, but a three-rolled and 6-year-old did not. >> it just makes it that much harder. beautiful little girls. i cannot imagine. >> a man is being treated at the washington hospital center

medstar unit, his wife treated and released from frederick memorial hospital. investigators are trying to determine what caused the fire. >> the beginning of a new era at the state department. secretary of state hillary clinton is last day on the job the first day for incoming secretary john kerry. clinton had an emotional sendoff earlier today. >> i will miss you. i will probably be dialing ops just talked. [laughter] >> it was a tough last day, and she also dealt with the aftermath of a suicide bombing at the u.s. embassy in turkey. two people were killed. she was briefed by the staff, as was john kerry, it was sworn in as secretary of state but this afternoon. >> the virginia assembly is moving closer to toughening penalties for texting and driving, making texting and driving a primary offense and increasing the current fine from

$20 up to $250. the senate committee is supposed to begin debating the issue today, but pushed it back until monday. >> a wild scene on the new york city subway. >> what caused gallons of water to gush through. >> also, steven tyler, lawmaker? not quite but this could cost a lot of money. >> zombies in love

>> tonight lot burger king is clearing up a water of a controversy about what is inside their burger patties. they cut supply is -- a cut ties with supplier so for crest foods. burger king says that it found

horse dna in four samples at the facility, but the company said that none of the tainted beef was ever sold to the restaurant. >> 7 on your side with the fear that twitter is the latest victim of an online attack. the say hackers may have gained access to a quarter million users. twitter discovered be attacked and has reset passwords and sent to users and email advising them to create new ones. >> steven tyler is behind a state proposal in hawaii that would protect celebrities. more than 2/3 of hawaii state senators have signed on to the bill to protect celebrities from photographers. it would give celebrities the power to sue over on wanted beach photos and snapshots on the island. >> would you want a photo of him

at the beach? just wondering. zombies with a comedic twist take center stage of your heading to the movie theater. arch campbell has a first look. that >> how am i doing with my life? i just want to connect. why can't i connect with people? oh, right -- it's because i'm dead. bennigan's the movie with the hilarious description of a life as a zombie, but his life changes. he feels something for her and pretty soon they turn into romeo and juliet in this surprising sharp comedy. 3 stras pg-13. "warm bodies," good humor and a lot of love. have a great weekend, everybody. i am arch campbell, abc 7

entertainment. >> we now to share some dramatic video of the water main break that could have caused big problems in the new york subway system. this water main burst right above the subway platform. it happened just before 11:00 this morning near the 23rd street train station. a spokesperson said there were no trains in the area and only a few people on the platform at the time. >> does that remind you of the scene that was all the subway with hurricane sandy? >> exactly. >> that is easier to turn off than the hurricane. >> it is cold. >> i was up bright and early, looking at this. the youngsters at bishop o'connell, wonderful school, this is the 38th year they have had the super dance. what the super dance is, this is

the assembly to kick off and get everybody in boost. this is the 38th year. the super dance is coming up and early march. they have raised millions of dollars for c.f. research, going on 38 years. it is the biggest fund-raiser of its kind by any high-school in the country. i was privileged to be there once again to talk to the dumpsters. outside today, it was a cold beginning and it is a cold evening. the high-temperature today only 36 degrees. temperature in minneapolis, almost 25 degrees colder than average. after having a mild and easy winter, the next few days into early next week, the temperatures remained below average. detroit, 12 degrees. with the wind, it feels like 0. 11 degrees around washington. the pattern has been one where

the jet stream, for a change, is dipping to the south, and along that is the ripples like the one this morning. the next is about kansas city, that will be coming through later tomorrow afternoon. here are how things shape up tomorrow, as you get up, it will be sunny. by the afternoon, the next ripple comes through. the temperature into the high 20's. any snow that falls will be the fluffy variety. tomorrow evening, it moves off. it might see another ripple coming through as we get into sunday. a simulation of the possible snowfall. about 1 inch, down to a conversational dusting. on the other hand, in the mountains, west virginia, seven eight, 9 inches of snow. that will be great in the ski areas. culpeper, spots like that, southern maryland, anything that

falls i think will be really on the light side. sunshine to start off the temperature in the morning only about 20 degrees in town, teens in the suburbs. still breezy, but not as much as today. any chance of light snow, conversational, that will be later in the afternoon and evening as everybody is preparing for the super bowl. sunday, a slight chance there might be some passing snow flurries were cloudy skies. by the middle part of next week the temperatures rise into the 40's. the super bowl weather will be great. of course, it is inside. have a great weekend. >> and now the toyota sports desk brought to you by your local toyota dealers. >> and looking responded in her ravens purple. >> the harbaugh family is pretty

famous at this point. most americans will watch the super bowl but one family will be there in the superdome, torn between the teams. tim brant has more from new orleans about what the harbaugh parents face. >> everybody has been talking about the two coaches, brothers facing each other for the first time in a super bowl. certainly, the picture that everybody has wanted to see was them standing together with the lombardi trophy. there they were today, john and jim, standing proudly by the lombardi trophy, but only one can have it. >> the week has not been any different from our standpoint. in normal week of football during the season. coaching-wise, it has been very much the same. >> we are fiercely loyal, no doubt. we all say that, not just of one another.

we always have been. the band of brothers will be on the sidelines. >> the stage is set for the final act of the drama that has become said the super bowl. >> great stuff. brandon holtby made 29 saves and a net tonight for the capitals but it was almost not enough. in the second, he steals the pocket. he passes it, finds backstrom who fakes out the goalie. when-one. in the third mike green, he fires and scores. the capitals win, 3-2. the wizards at memphis. second quarter, scary moment for john wall. that drives the lane, it gets air, and falls directly down, on

his left shoulder. he was down on the ground, a tremendous pain. just falls down and the scrum on his shoulder. he came out of the game, came back in the second half. the wizards no match for mike connolly jr.. the wizards lose 85-76. and make sure to turn to news channel 8 after the news. i will be hosting high-school sports finals with all of the basketball highlights. >> we will let you out of here so that you could get

>> the wild weather this week remains the top trending story on wjla.com. also, the deaths of two little girls killed in the fire. and the super bowl weekend. >> the school counselor of the year gallo was held in northwest. counselors from around the country were honored for excellence in education. sam ford was the master of ceremonies. the counselor of the year, mindy willard from arizona. congratulations to all.

>> another dusting tomorrow? >> conversational, now shovel- able. for your friend celebrating on bourbon street, it was 65. >> they are suffering. >> fairfax county right now, the wind chill making it feel like 5-10 degrees.

tomorrow cloudy, with maybe a few light snow flakes in the afternoon. >> it is friday night. >> thank you for joining us. about my have a great weekend.

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